


All’s Fair in Love and Games

by talesofsuspense



Series: Happy Steve Bingo 2019 [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 16:04:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20781302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesofsuspense/pseuds/talesofsuspense
Summary: Steve had made the mistake of saying “that dolphin is kind of cute” when they were walking through the huge line of game booths and, well, Tony was nothing if not committed.





	All’s Fair in Love and Games

**Author's Note:**

> For the square “I’m not leaving this booth until I win that stupid stuffed animal you want... No, I don’t care how much money it takes!” on my Happy Steve Bingo card.
> 
> This one is pure fluff and got a little out of hand since I was expecting it to barely hit 1k. What can I say, I love fluff. Also, I don’t know if it’s common anywhere else, but my university does actually have a fair every year, except ours is in the fall.

The day had started pleasantly enough. It was the Friday before Spring break officially started and, for one lucky semester, neither Tony or Steve had Friday classes. That also meant that the Spring Fair was in full gear on the back lawn of campus. Normally Steve went with Sam, but for one thing he had a boyfriend this year, and Sam had left for home early because his cousin was having a baby “any time now”. So naturally Steve had asked Tony if he wanted to go to the fair with him.

“Why would I want to go to a fair?” Tony had asked from where he was somehow kicking Steve’s ass at Mario Kart despite hanging upside down in the chair with one hand shoved in a bag of chips. Steve had stopped and turned to look at Tony in disbelief, not even caring that his car had turned and smashed into a wall, leaving him tumbling into eighth, ninth, twelfth place. Tony looked at him out the corner or his eye and then swore when he nearly fell off a ledge. “What? Get back to playing!”

“ _ Why would you want to go to a fair!? _ Why  _ wouldn’t  _ you!?” Steve had demanded, navigating his car back to the track and hitting a box that turned him into a bullet and rocketed him back into a comfortable sixth place.

“I dunno, I just can’t imagine it’d be that much fun,” Tony stuck his tongue out in concentration when he took the sharp turn that always sent Steve tumbling into the blackness below. “Besides, it’s kind of humid.”

“You  _ can’t imagine _ ? Tony are you seriously telling me you’ve never been to a fair?” Steve had asked. When Tony nodded and shrugged, uncaring, Steve dropped his controller onto his lap again. “Oh my god, Tony! Fairs are- well they’re like  _ the  _ spring-slash-summer activity. They have rides — I know how much you love the scrambler — games that are totally rigged but still infuriatingly addicting, free music, delicious, amazing, horrible, awful, overpriced food, and-”

“Alright fair boy, I’ll go if it will get you to start playing again. It’s only fun beating you when you’re trying. Also I’m buying at the fair. No objections. I know you haven’t gotten a call from that job you applied to yet.”

————

After 15 minutes of standing in front of one booth while Tony threw down another dollar worth of tickets, swore, and shot a water gun at a moving target trying to win a stupid stuffed dolphin for him, Steve was seriously questioning his past self for being so committed to getting Tony to come along.

It had been fun at first. They’d laughed themselves sore on the scrambler, both of them trying to squeeze the other against the side of cart as best they could while the ride spun them around rapidly, flinging their cart out and then tugging them back in. He’d smoothed Tony’s hair back into place and gotten away with some sappy hand holding while standing in line for vinegar fries. 

And then Steve had made the mistake of saying “that dolphin is kind of cute” when they were walking through the huge line of game booths and, well, Tony was nothing if not committed.

“Tony,” Steve said, injecting as much of a pleading tone as he could into his voice. “We’ve been here for almost 20 minutes already.”

“I’m not leaving this booth until I win that stupid stuffed dolphin you want” Tony said, firing off two more extra frustrated shots toward the target. They missed. Steve sighed, but couldn’t resist smiling. It was kind of cute, his smarter-than-most-professors boyfriend couldn’t land a little moving target.

“I didn’t even say I wanted it! I just said it was cute, as a passing comment!” Steve protested.

“Yeah, but that’s as close as you ever get to saying you want something. You might as well have begged for it,” Tony said which, okay that was honestly fair, but Steve really  _ had  _ meant it as a passing comment this time. 

“You’ve already spent like five dollars-”

“No. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t care how much money it takes,” Tony said. He closed one eye and aimed for the target, waiting for it to stop in front of his gun before pulling the trigger. It missed, again. Steve tried to tamp down on his grin when Tony groaned in frustration. 

“Okay that was your last try, four more tickets for another four shots,” the game booth attendee said, sounding bored, but Steve noticed a slight smile on his face. He saw Tony reach into his pocket for more tickets and tugged lightly on his arm.

“Come on babe,” Steve said, trying to make his eyes as big as he could. “The sun is almost completely set and there’s still more fair to see. You can win me one of those funnel cakes from the nice woman at the stand over there instead.”

Tony sighed, scowling at Steve but unable to keep the smile from his face when Steve beamed at him after he took his hand out of his pocket. He let Steve drag him away from the booth and towards the admittedly good smelling stand. “You are getting far too manipulative with those blue eyes of yours.”

The line for funnel cakes was thankfully short, because Steve was actually getting hungry again. Tony ordered two drinks and two funnel cakes with sugar and cinnamon and they walked over to a bench facing the sunset, happily munching away on their overpriced but delicious treats. Steve sighed, taking a bite from his funnel cake before he let his head drop onto Tony’s shoulder. He was happy; it was so nice being here with tony. He loved when he got to introduce Tony to things he already loved. The fair was his tradition with Sam, but now he got to bring Tony into the fold. He closed his eyes for a second when he felt Tony brush his hair back from his forehead. He always thought about cutting his hair, but knowing Tony thought his floppy hair was cute made him keep it. He tilted his head back, earning a sugary sweet kiss that made his heart flutter in chest. 

They sat together for another few minutes, watching the sun fall completely and the stars start to shine one-by-one, until Steve couldn’t ignore his bladder anymore. He sat up, wiping the excess sugar on the napkin laying on his lap. 

“Sorry, I have to pee.” They both looked back toward the toilets at the same time and Steve groaned when he saw the long line. It didn’t seem to be moving particularly fast either. He resigned himself to an uncomfortable wait in line and sighed as he made his way over, Tony by his side. “If you want, you can meet me by the Ferris wheel? The line is usually the longest of everything and I really wanted to get a ride on it before we left.”

“Sure thing, sweetheart,” Tony said, grinning when the tops of Steve’s ears turned pink. It was endlessly amusing to him that Steve could hold hands and kiss in public, but if  _ Tony  _ called  _ him  _ some term of endearment he started blushing. He leaned in to give him a peck on the lips before turning to walk off.

————

Tony made it halfway to the Ferris wheel when his mind trailed back to the stuffed dolphin he failed to win before. He knew it was stupid, but he really wanted to win Steve something. Also his competitive streak might be getting to him a little, but mostly he wanted to get something nice for Steve. He could hear Steve’s voice in his head telling him he could probably  _ buy  _ the dolphin for less money than he’d spent trying to win it, but he ignored it. Winning it was different. The logic didn’t really make sense, but well Tony could admit to being illogical sometimes, especially over Steve. He bit his lip and glanced back in the direction of the toilets. The line had been really long, and the Ferris wheel would still be waiting. Just one — or two — more tries at the dolphin and he’d give up.

There was thankfully no line when he got back to the booth, and the same guy was manning it, although he was currently engrossed in his phone. Tony cleared his throat to get the guy’s attention and set another dollars worth of tickets on ledge in front of him when he looked up.

“Back again?” The guys asked, smiling. Tony would’ve scowled, but the guy didn’t seem like he was saying it to be mean. 

“Yeah, I guess so. I know it’s stupid, but my boyfriend’s in the bathroom and I really want to win this for him, dolphins are his favorite animal,” Tony tapped his fingers against the wood as he waited for the guy to start up the game and hand him the water gun.

“It’s kind of sweet. A total waste of money, but cute anyway,” the guy frowned for a second, looking at Tony with a thoughtful expression on his face, and then he smiled. “I’ll tell you what, you spent enough money here for one day. You seem like the type to get upset if I just give you the damn dolphin, so what if I slow the game down a little, see if that helps your odds?”

Tony bit his lip, his pride warring with his desire to see Steve’s smile when Tony showed him the dolphin. Steve won out, as usual. “Okay, sounds like a deal.”

Tony lined up in front of the target, planting his feet firmly in the grass, and stared down the target. He squeezed the trigger. A miss. He rolled his shoulders out and fired again. Another miss. He swore that dolphin was mocking him at this point and let out a small growl of frustration, squeezing the trigger. It missed. He sighed, scrubbing his hand through his hair. Okay, one more try was all his dollar would get him and, despite wanting this dolphin, he didn’t want to have to buy more tickets to go on the Ferris wheel. He closed his eyes right before the target started back toward him, picturing Steve’s face lit up with his bright smile he saved for Tony. He smiled to himself, squeezing the trigger one last time, holding his breath. When he heard the shrill noise of the alarm go off his eyes snapped open, grinning wildly when he saw the man reaching up to grab the dolphin for him.

“Here you go man,” the guy said with a smile. “Now go find your boyfriend.”

————

Luckily, Tony made it to the Ferris wheel before Steve. He stepped into line and clung tightly to the dolphin, unable to stop smiling. It was stupid and more than a little cheesy he knew, but he felt so happy with himself for winning the dolphin for Steve, even if he had gotten a little help from the game operator. When he saw Steve walking towards him he whipped the dolphin behind his back as fast as he could.

“Jeez, is the line really moving this slow?” Steve asked with a frown, stepping into line next to Tony.

“My position in line probably has something to do with this,” Tony said, flinging the dolphin out from behind him with a grin he tried to stop by biting down on his bottom lip. Based on the look on Steve’s face he didn’t succeed. 

“Tony you really went and spent more money on this?” Steve asked, trying to sound disapproving, but Tony could see the corner of his mouth curling up and he reached out and took the dolphin from him.

“Just another dollar,” Tony shrugged, grinning as he watched Steve’s smile grow wider the longer he looked at the dolphin. It was stupid, but Steve looked so happy and Tony could feel his eyes stinging a little. God, Tony thought, he was stupid over this guy. “I know dolphins are your favorite.”

“Thank you, you idiot, I love him,” Steve looked up at him with a grin. His face softened when he saw Tony’s eyes shining. Tony felt himself warm a little, embarrassed at being caught out. Steve leaned closer, pressing a kiss to the corner of Tony’s mouth. “And I love you.”

“I love you too, and you’re welcome,” Tony said, slinging an arm around Steve’s waist and pressing a kiss into his cheek. They inched forward in the line together, Tony’s cheek resting on Steve’s head, until it was their turn. Steve climbed in first and Tony followed him in, closing the gate after himself.

The Ferris wheel went around slowly, allowing Tony to take in the scenery around him. He realized he’d never actually been on one before and he liked it. It was a little windier now, and this high up the breeze was a nice contrast to the air that was still a little humid when you stood still for too long. He looked over at Steve and found him already looking at him. He smiled at him, soft and happy, and Steve smiled back, hugging the dolphin to his chest. 

“You look really beautiful like this,” Tony said, watching as Steve’s floppy hair blew in the wind. Steve’s smile widened and his cheeks turned a slightly darker shade of pink, more pronounced than the light wind burn had been.

“I’m gonna have to take you to fairs more often if it turns you this sappy,” Steve said, knocking their shoulders together. He looked out towards the open field in front of them as they started toward the top of the Ferris wheel and saw Tony do the same. He let his chin rest on the soft head of his dolphin, a small smile on his lips. Today had been one of the best days of his life, and all he’d done was go to a fair with his boyfriend. 

Tony took out his phone when they were practically at the top, tugging Steve closer to him. He felt Steve press a kiss to his cheek, his lips curled against his skin. “Smile and say ‘dolphin’.”

Steve laughed and looked down at the photo as the wheel made its final descent. Tony’s face was lit up with a smile and even though Steve’s was slightly obscured because he was kissing Tony’s cheeks he could see the smile on his own face. The dolphin was held up between them, the black thread that formed its mouth curved into a smile of its own. He knew both of them would have that picture printed and framed within a week.

“I’m naming him Tony,” Steve said when they stepped off the Ferris wheel, holding the Tony dolphin up higher. “That way you’ll always be with me, even during breaks.”

“Steve we both live in New York City, just in different parts. We can see each other whenever we want on breaks,” Tony said, rolling his eyes fondly. He squeezed one of the dolphin’s plush flippers, feeling the soft fabric under his fingers. 

“You never know, you might have to go overseas for some business thing with your dad again. Or we could get snowed in,” Steve shrugged, holding up the flipper Tony had just squeezed in wiggled it in a mock wave. Tony shook his head with a smile. 

“Okay, Tony dolphin it is,” Tony said with a laugh. They started walking back towards the dorm building, Steve holding Tony’s hand with his free one. “Hey, thanks for making me go to the fair. I- it really was a great time. I love you.”

“Of course, thank you for agreeing to come,” Steve said, looking at Tony with a soft smile. “I had a great time too. I love you too.”


End file.
